William Fitzwilliam Owen
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Vice Admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...
William Fitzwilliam Owen (17 September 1774 – 3 November 1857), was a
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
naval officer and explorer. He is best known for his exploration of the west and east
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n coasts, discovery of the Seaflower Channel off the coast of
Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...
and for surveying the
Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...
. The illegitimate son of Captain William Owen he was orphaned at the age of four, however, his father's friend Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Rich, kept an eye on both William and his elder brother Edward. In 1788 at age 13 he embarked as a midshipman in Rich's ship, , and from that time the Royal Navy was his life. Self-willed and boisterous, he had frequent difficulties early in his naval career. He served at home and on ships in the
East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies) is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The ''Indies'' broadly referred to various lands in Eastern world, the East or the Eastern Hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainl ...
. He was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1797. In 1801 he took command of the fireship . In late 1801 the hired armed cutter ''King George'', under the command of a Mr. Yawkins (William Yawkins), served under
Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...
at his failed attack on Boulogne. On 25 August Nelson came aboard ''King George'' to conduct a reconnaissance of the French fleet. In October Nelson gave Owen command over the ''King George'' as well, with secret instructions to launch a burning ''Nancy'' at the French fleet. The fire attack did not occur and ''Nancy'' was sold in December. After the resumption of war with France in 1803, Owen was given command of the 16-gun brig , which sailed to the East Indies. There he served under Rear-Admiral Sir
Edward Pellew Admiral Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, GCB (19 April 1757 – 23 January 1833) was a Royal Navy officer and politician. He fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars. His younge ...
, Commander-in-Chief East Indies. He explored the
Maldive Islands The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about from the Asian c ...
in 1806, and in the same year discovered the Seaflower Channel, between the islands of Siberut and Sipora off the west coast of Sumatra. He fought the Dutch in the
East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies) is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The ''Indies'' broadly referred to various lands in Eastern world, the East or the Eastern Hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainl ...
, but on 28 September 1808 the French frigate ''Manche'' captured ''Seaflower''. The French held Owen from 1808 to 1810 in
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, during which time he was promoted to commander. After his release Owen was promoted to
post captain Post-captain or post captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy. The term "post-captain" was descriptive only; it was never used as a title in the form "Post-Captain John Smith". The term served to di ...
in May 1811, before returning to England in 1813. From 1815 to 1816, he surveyed the Upper Canadian Great Lakes with Lieutenant Henry Wolsey Bayfield, naming an inlet in southern
Georgian Bay The Georgian Bay () is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To its northwest is t ...
" Owen's Sound" in honour of his elder brother, Admiral Sir Edward William Campbell Rich Owen. Between 26 October 1815 and 31 May 1816 he was the senior Royal Navy Officer on the Great Lakes. Owen mapped the entire east African coast from the
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to the
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between 1821 and 1826 in the sloop ''Leven'' and in company with the brig . During this period, Owen established a one-man protectorate of
Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital status in 1907. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...
with the aim of disrupting the 'hellish trade' in slaves; but Owen was forced to shut down under orders from the Crown after only three years. When he returned in 1826, with 300 new charts, covering some 30,000 miles of coastline, over half of his original crew had been killed by
tropical diseases Tropical diseases are diseases that are prevalent in or unique to tropical and subtropical regions. The diseases are less prevalent in temperate climates, due in part to the occurrence of a cold season, which controls the insect population by for ...
. His survey of the east coast of Africa is regarded as one of the most challenging ever undertaken by the British Admiralty. In 1827 he was in charge of settling a colony at Fernando Po. During the first year, he was joined by Lieutenant James Holman who was famous in his time as "the Blind Traveller". In the mid-1830s, having little hope of further naval appointment, he removed with his family to
New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...
. He secured title to Campobello Island, which had been granted to his father and was lord proprietor of the same as well as being involved in other investments in New Brunswick. From 1841 he served as a justice of the peace as well as concurrently as judge of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas. Between 1837 and 1842 he was a very visible member of the New Brunswick House of Assembly for Charlotte County. Following his defeat for reelection, he was appointed in December 1843 to the New Brunswick Legislative Council of which he was an active member through 1851. He was elected an Associate Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
in 1844. In the final action of his naval career, between September 1842 and December 1847, he conducted the definitive survey of the
Bay of Fundy The Bay of Fundy () is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its tidal range is the highest in the world. The bay was ...
for the Admiralty. Indeed, some charts of the area are still based upon his surveys.


Family

Vice Admiral Owen was twice married: first in January 1818 to Martha Evans with whom he had two daughters (see Captain John James Robinson-Owen), secondly 11 December 1852 in Saint John, New Brunswick to Amy (née Vernon) Nicholson widow of Captain Thomas L. Nicholson (see William Johnstone Ritchie). Owen was promoted
Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...
in 1841 and
Vice Admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...
in 1854. He died on 3 November 1857 at St. John,
New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...
.


Legacy

A
species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of African chameleon, '' Trioceros oweni'', was named in his honor by British zoologist
John Edward Gray John Edward Gray (12 February 1800 – 7 March 1875) was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of zoologist George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray (1766–1828). The same is used for a z ...
in 1831.Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Owen, W.F.W.", p. 198).


See also

*


References


Further reading

*Herman, Arthur, "To Rule the Waves", Hodder and Stoughton, 2004 *Burrows, E. H., "Captain Owen of the African Survey", A. A. Balkema, 1978


External links


Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Owen, William Fitzwilliam 1774 births 1857 deaths Military personnel from Manchester Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Royal Navy vice admirals British explorers of Africa Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars English hydrographers